Robin: Golden Boy
by The Jolly Bounty
Summary: He looked at the chain sitting on his desk, the R mocking him.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, was watching Dark Knight... I tend to watch it way to often -cough-... Anyway I got to thinking wouldn't James Gordon Junior be the perfect character to become Robin? He knows that Batman wasn't responsible for those deaths at the end of Dark Knight. Also he's an almost completely blank slate since he had so few scenes!**

**Also I decided to call Gordon's daughter Barbra because IMDb suggested that was her name (or their best guess). I'm also sorry if I make a mistake on how she looks I couldn't find an image anywhere or a scene where I could get a good enough look!**

**I do not own Batman**

Chapter 1

When the man staggered, tired into the house at two am he didn't expect to see his teenage son sitting on the couch watching the television. He ran his hand though his wet thinning hair preparing to tell the boy to go to bed when he saw what the boy was watching the news. Outside the rain hit the roof hard.

"Hey dad your home huh?" The boy twisted around so his blue eyes met his father's as he shrugged the dyed black tangles out of his face. "Sorry missed the news earlier Mum and Barb wanted to watch some chick flick" The boy's father pulled off his trench coat and hat leaving them on the hooks by the door as he sat down with his son.

"Anything to report Junior?" Jay raised an eye brow, he preferred being called Jay but his parents saw it as a phase. That said he thought being called anything junior sucked.

"Dad it's Gotham... There is always something to report!" The boy threw his arms up in anger. Commissioner Gordon, the boy's father nodded feeling a rant about to come out of the boy's mouth. The boy sighed as the silence lengthened "you probably know anyway, Batman caught some more... you know... _Bad _guys! Why are you after him again?" Gordon gave his son a warning look both about the content of what he said and how he had said it.

Batman had been an enemy of the police for the last five years since Harvey Dent's stunt as Twoface had led to the vigilantly taking the blame for everything the madman had done. It was lucky for both the Dark Knight and Gordon that Batman was just so fantastic at evading the police. At every turn they just missed him.

"You planning on going to bed?" Gordon changed the subject, his son shrugged.

"Not really" Seeing the look his father threw him he raised his hands in defence "Hey I can't sleep okay! I was so worked up today about the grading that now I just can't" James Gordon Junior was a smart kid, he was smart enough that after what happened to him when he was ten he realized that some sort of self defence would be incredibly useful. Taking up karate he had just spent the day getting his black belt. "I also crashed earlier at Rich's" Gordon nodded "so... How was work?" the boy asked the question as he always did, like there was some hidden edge to it.

"The usual"

"Dad if it was usual your back by twelve and mum's there was a pot of coffee ready" Jim Gordon was surprised his son had taken notice of this behaviour. "She went to bed by the way, has a breakfast with the other mums from school tomorrow" The dark haired boy nodded towards the kitchen "I kept the pot hot though, in case you did want some" The boy stood up at that moment and stretched "well I better get to bed. Good night dad"

It stuck Jim Gordon then as he was pouring his coffee that his son must had been worried enough to stay up and wait for him.

/

It was the usual Saturday morning for the Gordon family Jay noted as he walked down the stairs in his baggy pyjama bottoms and equally baggy t-shirt. His black hair was a mess and he blinked glancing into the open planed living room kitchen to find that as usual his ten year old sister had woken up before him and was watching cartoons. She was sitting on the couch her quilt wrapped around her; the old brown teddy bear that used to be his in her arms.

"Hey Barb what are you watching?" The girl groggily glanced up at her brother

"Pokémon" He shook his head slightly, smiling.

"So you like Pokémon?" The girl nodded grinning back, "With the..." he stopped no one was going to get the reference and it would just make him a dork. That's when he saw as usual his dad coming down the stairs and putting on his trench coat.

As usual this Saturday was _supposed_ to be a day off for him.

As usual it wasn't.

Their mother followed him still in her nightgown. As their father said his hurried goodbyes and was out the door just as fast. When the door shut the older woman sighed and turned around putting a smile on her face.

"Hey guys since you're up what about breakfast?" Barb peered over the top of the couch at her mother smiling. Her son remembered something as she was pulling the ingredients for pancakes out of the cupboards

"Don't you have that breakfast thing?" She nodded

"At nine but I have time to make you guys breakfast"

"Jay are you still going to take me to the park?" the girl's brother opened the fridge and located the orange juice. He poured two cups and gave one to his little sister.

"When did I say I wasn't?" he took a sip "we'll go at eleven okay?" she nodded furiously almost spilling her drink.

By eleven the two were dressed and ready to head out to the park with their big mutt of a brown dog, Duke. It was a warm sunny day after a storm the night before; large puddles had formed in all the dips and holes in the old foot path. Jay's sister admired the rainbow with a big grin plastered on her face.

Jay held her hand the whole way to the park in his other hand was Duke's lead. He admitted he was probably being to over protective but Batman didn't appear during the day… On the other hand criminals did.

The boy was always careful with his sister; there had been enough threats on their family for him to be protective of the girl. The local park, though not in the rich and there for clean part of town was pretty safe keeping her in his view was easy since for the most part it was just grass with some trees dotted about randomly. Jay sat down on of the benches Duke like a good dog sat beside him. Barbra started cart wheeling along the grass.

A few minutes later Barbra was board of cart wheeling and tumbling about and so sat next to her brother, staring at him in that "I'm board" way little siblings do. He took a piece of stale bread out from his bag and passed it to her so she could feed the birds. She grinned ripping the bread apart and throwing it out onto the ground. Quickly the birds descended and the girl giggled. Duke attempted to grab some before getting a warning from the teenager.

Jay pulled out his phone and began to text his friend Rich.

_Doing anything interesting R?_

_U woke me up! Wat u doing?_ The boy smirked at his friend's reply

_At park with sis_ he was about to press the send button when he felt something pull on his sleeve. He hadn't been paying any attention to Barbra so she had found her own way to entertain herself once the birds had eaten every crumb of the bread.

However now the girl was looking up at her big brother with sad eyes and in her cupped hands was a little robin, it looked frightened but didn't move. Jay could see it shaking in her hands.

"Where'd you get that?" He asked.

"It was by that tree" she tried to point without jostling the bird too much "it didn't move unlike the other birds it just sat there… Something's wrong with it right Jay?" the teenager wasn't sure what to say. He knew the bird was sick or something.

Barbra was staring up at him, pleading… Jay sighed untying the dog's lead from the bench.

"Come on then let's get it back to the house quickly" she nodded as they ran as quickly as possible back to the house without harming the bird further.

…

"You're kidding right?" Rich said as they walked down the street

"I'm not" Jay shook his head knocking the hood of his jumper slightly off his black hair. "We wrapped it up in blankets and everything… The Vet's not back till Tuesday so we have to care for it till then" the other dark haired boy laughed.

"I can't believe you the fearless Jay hero of the down trodden nerds!" Rich threw his friend a perfect grin "some call him the boy wounder and yet he can't handle a little girl with a sick little bird" Jay glared.

"Says the boy who lost his cool to the "Boy Wounder"" His companion smirked

Back when Jay had just started going to high school he had met Rich. The other boy had come from a pretty prominent and rich family so for the most part people were interested in him for money or the fame of being friends with someone like that.

Rich had reacted by being a quiet and angry kid.

Jay on the other hand had within the first term gotten a name for having zero tolerance for any bullying or fighting. If you pulled any of that shit you would be busted soon after.

Once when Rich had been 'coxing' a more sturdiest student to do an assignment for him Jay had appeared.

"_You really think that will help you?" the boy observed "what does it matter until our last year passing is optional anyway" the other boy glared at him folding his arms_

"_Says the kid of the Commissioner my parents could have your dad fired in a second do you really want to mess with me?" Jay seemed to think about it_

"_Yes, yes I do mate" he saw Rich's lips twitch "dumb ass smile like hell it's gonna matter anyway! Do the rich have to be stone faced or something?" the boy cracked up_

"_You're alright Gordon"_

"_Sweet can my dad keep his job then?"_

The two of them had become best friends since then.

"Oh check this out!" Rich pulled out his wallet which was now attached to his pants by a sturdy gold chain with an 'R' within a circle on it. "Because my parents are paranoid I'll lose it"

"I could see that happening" Jay said with a nod as they laughed, they didn't notice until too late the big men they were about to and did run into.

"Hey watch it!" One growled, Jay got a good look at them…

Big, leather jackets, tattoos… not what they wanted to mess with.

"Sorry!" He called out a little too loud not out of nerves but to catch passers by's attention, maybe one of them would come help.

_Yeah and the Joker will reform and become an upstanding citizen!_

One of them grabbed him by the arm.

"Listen here boy you messed up my man's jacket and he needs some… compensation for it…" Jay thought quickly about how much money was in his wallet not probably enough to make these guys leave them alone.

"Hey Mick don't these kids look familiar?" The man looking down at Jay to another look.

The boy was thankful he dyed his hair if crooks realized he was the commissioner's son it would be TwoFace all over again.

"Hang on! This kid's a Black!" one of the other men whispered excitedly. Rich foreseeing a worse scenario held up his hands.

"Hey… Look how much you want for you to leave us alone?" the men looked at each other and grinned.

"You don't get it kiddo" the one named Mick turned "we came to this street looking for you" in happened in a moment. The men restrained Rich as Jay made a grab for him. His hand took hold of the cold chain as he screamed.

One of the men grabbed Jay.

"Better take'im with us!" he growled, Rich's eyes grew alarmed as he kicked the man back forcing the chain to brake off in Jay's hand.

"Run for it!" He screamed. Jay eyes wide nodded sprinting off as fast as possible; one of the men followed him as he used the nearest objects as obstacles in his path. He was vaguely aware that the chain had harmed his hand and blood was running down it as he continued to run. Fortunately to keep his body in shape Jay ran a lot unlike the man who was lagging behind but the boy didn't turn around. It was only when he heard the loud "ouff!" that he did.

He skidded almost falling and turned. Panting he saw the man in the black cape rectify himself and turn to see him. Jay was panting as he ran up to the man showing none of the fear someone should when facing the Batman a wanted criminal.

"They… They took my friend! On third!" the man barely nodded as he headed off in the direction Jay told him. The boy pulled out his phone only now noticing what the chain had done to his hand. The chain was covered in red… He didn't believe in omens

He was not starting now damn it!

"What is your emergency?" the calm voice said

"On Third my friend and I got attacked by some shady looking guys. I got away but they were trying to kidnap my friend!"

"I will patch you into the police…" Jay wanted to scream at the woman to not act like this was normal.

But in Gotham it was.

Jay had to identify the men Batman caught them all but that Mick guy who disappeared along with Rich. It was also Batman who found Rich's body two days later the kidnappers not getting the ransom.

In was now Tuesday and Jay refused to go to school. His best friend was dead! He stared at the chain, his blood now dry a dark red. He had washed it but the blood had remained. He would not cry!

There was a knock at his door, he ignored it

Another knock and a sob.

He paused checking the clock… six… He opened the door of his bedroom to find a small crying girl.

"Barb?" He whispered, the girl almost caused him to fall over as she crash tackled him. She wrapped her arms around his chest and buried her face in it, her tears were soaking though his shirt.

"Taillow died" she sobbed, she had named the robin after a Pokémon "Mum sa… said the Vet told her it was for the best… He was too sick to pull though… Hi-his wing was broken and he couldn't go back to the wild anyway" the teenager placed a hand on her head.

"It's okay Barb…" he tried to smile "why don't we go get some hot chocolate or something?" the girl nodded as Jay took her by the hand and lead her into the kitchen. He made the hot drink from scratch just as his mother had done for him when he felt like shit.

He placed the first mug in his little sister's hands as the news reader caught his attention.

"News just in! The vigilantly known as Batman caught the killers of the young Richard Black…" he dropped the mug. His mother realized he was watching and quickly turned it off. Jay ran from the room and to his own. He locked the door behind himself.

He looked at the chain sitting on his desk, the R mocking him.

It wasn't at all strange was it? That Batman saved him that night not the police

That Batman caught the men not the police

Batman had… Had found the body not the police

Jay loved his father but… They were basically useless and he had known that for a long time.

Jay wasn't going to stand for it any longer. His eyes locked on the chain again.

He would not let another person die! If being a vigilantly like Batman was the only thing that worked…

Well then Jay would become one too!

**Yeah… Honestly Robin is my favourite hero (shut up) and it disappoints me that the only times he seems to get on the big screen are when people fail to get the character even half right and I honestly don't believe that he's too light for the new films ether!**

**That said I did age up the starting age because I get how having a ten year old running around would seem odd but honestly if you just played him as an apprentice to batman doing apprentice type work it would make sense!**

**Till then I'll just join the group of people making these stories!**

**Note* I know this opening is very comic booky I kind of wanted it this way**

**And remember folks don't flame unless you have an extinguisher!**


	2. Chapter 2

**XPsychoBabyDollX**** Thanks for the review and that is one awesome name by the way :D**

**Sorry that it took so long to get this out I have so much freaking homework and I've had to plot out these arcs. In other words I wrote the first chapter and went wait… what the hell do I do now?**

…**I got by because WE THE KINGS PUT UP A NEW SONG! For those who don't know me I am a huge wtk's fan I honestly suggest checking them out if you ever liked a jimmy eat world, blink 182, simple plan or anything like that… oh and shameless plugs are shameless!**

**I do not own Batman**

Chapter 2

Exactly one week Jay had made his proclamation to become a vigilantly so far he had done squat after all how the hell do you start doing something like that?

He had actually about four days ago figured out the problem He wasn't an idiot.

An idiot would just make a stupid costume and go out there and get their ass handed to them.

Jay knew how dumb that was however he wasn't ready to give up on his idea after all he was right. His research said that Batman did more than the police ever did, he did feel some slight guilt over that after all it felt like he was choosing sides between his father and some random guy who dresses up like a bat.

_Gee Jay when you say it like that it sounds stupid_

He leaned onto his desk and sighed

He had the skills yeah… Well most of them he was now a black belt he still knew a bit about how to perform jumps and flips though that were from when he used to skate board, though it was mostly the lower tricks and sliding he had learnt rollerblading that he thought would be of use while dodging.

_This is the same stuff I always think about_ he groaned, the boy sat up in his chair _okay then why don't I look at this a different way… Instead of thinking about what I can do, I know that already why don't I look at clothing, weaponry and other essentials you know realistically_. He pulled a piece of paper and a pencil.

_Body armours a must I mean there is no way I'm going out there without some sort of bullet proofing… but how the hell am I going to get that…_ he pouted putting the pencil to his lip _this is Gotham though Jay don't forget interially possible that if I did go down the darker alleys I could find some pretty good stuff… and some pretty good info however isn't that a compromise… I mean I'd be profiting off the people I want to stop enabling them to… Okay here's my problem I over think everything… just stop thinking for a second!_

He breathed in and out and looked at the blood stained chain sitting at the top of his desk. Without really thinking about it he began to draw a horrible sketch of a costume. The costume had a long black cloak so he could hide his face but beneath it was an eye mask. The rest of the costume was simple a red shirt with a note next to it saying baggy that way he could put some sort of bullet proof vest beneath it. But pants wise he didn't want to use black again after all he had decided to have black boots and gloves. He sighed what colour could he make them… he continued to stare at his messy room

"Heh… Could always go chrismassy and be green and red… actually…" he coloured in the pants and smirked "that doesn't look half bad…" he slapped down his pen then and stood up "and I am officially a dumb ass!" he shook his head and made his way down stairs.

His mother was in the kitchen as he walked past she smiled at him, both his parents figured his large amount of time spent in his room was due to what happened to Richard… that was a major part of it but he'd felt pitiful so he'd worked on his project instead.

"Hey Jay how are you?" his father asked as the boy walked up to the couch.

"Can I have a bullet proof vest?" his father stared at him "I know I can defend myself but when someone pulls a gun on me, which let's face it happens more often than getting a bruise in this town I'd like to have something up my sleeve" the man glanced at his wife who was in shock having stopped what she had been doing.

"Honestly James I thought about it when you were a kid… We thought it wouldn't be good for you to be thinking about it"

"But now I am anyway so I'm better off safe" there was silence

"Alright"

…

"Anything in particular you're looking for?" the teenage girl behind the counter asked. The boy smiled slightly

"Yeah but I think I'll look around a bit myself first"

"Suit yourself" he wondered if that was meant to be a pun. Jay moved around the shop looking for a few of the things on his list. He'd already got the gloves and boots, the first had been a leather pair given to him for his birthday the second were hiking boots he had spray painted black. He had also died a pair of jeans green and with the dark colouring they did look pretty awesome. Right now he was looking for a cape hence why he had chosen to go to a costume shop. As he pulled his hands though the rack.

"You got a party on or something?" he blinked and turned seeing the girl behind him. She pulled her long blond pony tail off her shoulder

"Yeah I have everything together but the cloak" Jay sighed. She smiled

"What are you looking for then?"

"Black hooded cloak" she nodded flipping quickly though the rack before pulling something out.

"How's this?" he took it from her and looked it over, it was long probably would come to just above his feet and was black except the inside was yellow. That was workable

"Great thanks!" he grinned trying it on. As he checked himself out in the mirror the girl quickly pulled the hood over his face. "Hey!" he heard her laugh as he pulled the cloak off and headed to join her at the counter.

"You know…" she said as she rung up the purchase "if you really are thankful you'd invite me to this party…"

"I've known you for ten minutes and you want to come to a party you know nothing about?"

"Sounds fun!" he shook his head

"No trust me it was more fun picking out the cloak… and I don't even know your name!"

"It's Stephanie" she held her hand out for him to shake

"Jay" he pulled the now bagged cloak off the counter and headed for the door "see you around then"

….

He had been paranoid picking up a mask from another shop but as he had previously stated he had a habit over thinking everything. The mask was little more than the basic black eye mask you picked up in the shopping centre and would cost nothing to replace. The point of it was basically because he didn't feel like making his family more of a target and having his dad on his trail would suck.

Now Jay was looking at his costume, laid out on his bed. He had picked up a hunting knife which he had attached to the belt. That had also taken almost all of the money he had earned at last year's summer job. The grappling hook… let's just say he didn't want to lose that anytime soon.

He leaned outside the window checking how dark it was and all the lights inside the house were off meaning no one should be awake, just in case he had the door locked. He changed making sure everything was in the right place in the mirror. He ran his hand over the golden 'R' he turned into a pin. It held his cloak together much better than the cheep little button had. Hooking the torch he had been using onto his belt, having one last check to make sure everything was in the right place he pulled himself though the second story window with practiced ease. Ever since he had discovered at age twelve that the piece of roof below his window was barely quarter of a meter away from the roof next door he had started going roof jumping with some friends. Nowadays he mostly used it to get to Lon's house, whose house wasn't too far down the street. Gotham seemed to have a habit of cramming everything together as close as possible probably to capitalize on the real-estate.

As he jumped from building to building Jay felt exhilaration run though him this was his first night out ready to fight. Of cause he had been out learning how to use his grappling hook and to get used to the paths across the roofs he had forgotten about since he and Lon had made the roofs their playground.

It was as he was running by a fire escape that he heard someone call for help, he jumped down using the fire escape and landed behind two thugs who had a knife at a man's throat, and his girlfriend was gripping his arm sobbing.

"Hey boys" Jay grinned as he aimed a kick into one man's back the other spun around as Jay moved back. He was going to be careful about this. The man ran at him stabbing with the knife, Jay dodged most of the shots before he felt the sharp mettle go though his upper right arm. Jay hissed as he blocked the man's arm as he tried to get the boy again. He smirked using both arms to break the man's wrist and swiftly picking up the knife. "So what now?" he grinned, the man charged at him again so Jay kicked him in the balls, he wasn't too proud for cheap shots.

"You fucking brat!" he dodged out of the way as the other man made a grab for him and without intending to tripped him so that his head went straight into a nearby garbage bin and he was knocked out. Jay the proceeded to knock out the other man and bind their hands and feet just to be on the safe side. He picked up the wallet that had been dropped by one of the thugs and turned to the cowering couple who shrunk back as he moved towards them. He rubbed his neck and threw the wallet at the man before moving over to the fire escape so he could climb back up.

"You might want to get going… this time of night things get a bit bad in dear old Gotham" they nodded and moved to leave the alley before the man walked the few steps between them and held his hand up to Jay who was already up on the fire escape ladder. The teenager grinned as he took it and shook.

"Thanks kid but what's your name?" Jay let go and started climbing up the fire escape.

"Call me Robin"

**Sorry it's short but I couldn't really think of anywhere else to go with this I mean… I wanted to keep Jay's first outing as a hero pretty self contained. If you think He did too well remember he is a black belt with years of training… that's my explanation and I'm sticking to it!**

**And remember folks don't flame unless you have an extinguisher**


	3. Chapter 3

**Yes chapter three where I reference Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy… because I can!**

**Yes you may have noticed the name of the story has changed… Yeah I was never a fan of the original one but I couldn't think of something better at the time so now I have and it's changed hurray!**

Chapter 3

"Hey how was the party?" Jay turned away from the cereals he had been looking at to see a familiar blond.

"Stephanie right?

Barbra quickly grabbed a box of fruit loops and chucked it in the basket thinking her brother didn't see her.

"Barb" he put the box back "no offence I don't want the parents yelling at me because I let you have sugary cereal" the girl pouted

"You're no fun you know that?" the blond told him her hands on her hips. Jay cocked his head

"He's just mad because Mum noticed he got in fights at school" Barbra was getting him back for not allowing her to have fruit loops, _great..._

"Really now?" Stephanie turned her attention to the teenage boy who shrugged

"It's nothing and I'm not fighting in school" he couldn't say how he was getting the wounds. He was running around dishing out vigilante justice, his parents would kill him. Honestly he was shocked he had yet to get killed even if it had only been a couple of months. The name Robin was only just starting to appear as anything more than an excuse for how some guy got caught.

"You know denial never solves anything" the girl put her arm around his shoulder grinning, he shrugged her off.

"It wasn't in school… why are you here anyway?"Stephanie raised her eye brow

"Well I'd say probably the same thing you're here for" she pulled a box of cereal down from the shelf "Does it shock you that a pretty girl like me doesn't have a servant to do her shopping for her?" Jay coughed to cover up his snicker.

"I think you should" they both turned towards Barbra the little girl seemed to be seriously thinking about this. Stephanie lent down slightly so she was eye to eye with the little girl.

"Are you saying I'm pretty?" She asked

"Of cause!" Stephanie's grin grew even bigger

"She's so cute!"

"I'd let you keep her but I think my parents might kill me" Jay replied checking his watch "we need to go Barb…"

"Lunch?" the girl said "Mum gave you extra money so we could go get lunch!" the girl seemed outraged that her brother would forget something like that.

"I know" _they really wanted us out of the house_ he added to himself. His little sister turned back to Stephanie who had now stood up and was checking to see if she had missed anything on her list.

"You should come to!" the girl blinking looking down at the child and shrugged

"You buying?" she grinned and Jay.

/

Jay had realized that now his little sister was quickly growing attached to the blond girl and he wasn't sure how to feel about that.

Stephanie was kind of… well to put it bluntly insane.

But he shrugged it off because he didn't need Barbra mad at him. He already had his mother asking why he locked his door at night.

So he agreed to take his sister and Stephanie out to MacDonald's and was now sitting in booth as the two girls chatted about nothing. While he was thinking he spotted something.

The man about two tables away was reading a newspaper the front headline was "Who is the Boy Wounder?" complete with a blurry picture of him hook shooting away.

Okay he was most defiantly famous now.

"Fan?" Jay turned to see Stephanie dipping a chip in the puddle of sauce she had created in the lid of her cheese burger container. Jay realized he was smiling.

"It's kind of amusing don't you think? The guys what? A teenager running around fighting bad guys. He's probably crazy." Stephanie nodded

"You are so a fan" Jay rolled his eyes "and in denial, don't worry about it though you're not alone kids cool. Boy wounder though… sounds so circus boy" they both laughed

"Dad doesn't like him" Barbra didn't like not being a part of the conversation. Jay stared down at his burger not feeling hungry anymore.

/

Three days later Jay was sitting on the couch in his living room when the front door opened.

"Honey?" Jay turned his head as his mother called out to her husband. The man walked right past her, angry. Jay lowered his head on the couch the paper being the only tell tale sign of him being in the room. It was then he realized the offending subject was in fact on the front page and that the damage had been done.

"First real photos of Gotham's Boy Wounder!"

Was in big friendly letters on the cover. It really was the first good photos that had been taken of him. The one that took up most of the front page was of him flying across the sky… well it looked like it. Jay's eyes could pick up the thin line that showed he was using his grapple.

The article below was pretty pro boy wounder and it did call him Robin.

He had been worried he'd get saddled with some stupid name the media gave him seemed they just liked calling him the 'Boy Wounder' it was odd that his old school nickname, the one only Rich seemed to call him anyway, had become his new name.

"Why?" he heard his father call. Jay kept the news paper up as he listened to his parent's conversation. "Why is he doing this?"

_Because I have to Dad!_

"Doesn't this kid realize how dangerous this kind of thing is?"

_Yes I'm not an idiot!_

"Where are his parents?"

_In the kitchen not realizing the subject of their conversation is eavesdropping, hiding behind a newspaper._

Jay turned the page as to not seem suspicious

"Dear…" Jay's mother tired to sound calming "I know this is causing you a lot of trouble…"

"Causing me? Well of cause it is! But the fact still remains that it won't be long till this kid is found dead in some alley unless someone stops him!" Jay gritted his teeth not letting his father's words get to him. "Look at all the adults who died because they wanted to imitate Batman! Barbra I can't let some child… A boy like James end up like that!"

Jay lowered his head his hand subconsciously moving over the new wound he had gotten a simple scratch (though to most people anything involving stiches would be seen as at least a little worrying) something that could have easily been avoided if he had not been so cocky about things. The teenager closed and folded the paper before setting it done on the coffee table and walking over to the front door. Duke looked up from his mat but the boy gave a hand signal to tell the dog to stay.

/

It took him a moment to realize he had rung Lonnie's bell after all since Rich's death the two had barely spoken. It had taken Lonnie some time to get used to Rich since they were completely different… Lonnie was a brain he liked pulling things apart, spent most of his time at his dad's work, Machin'mechanics (Lonnie said the moment his dad retired the place was getting a new name) being his insane self and that was all he ever seemed to talk about.

Rich… sometimes had issues with a toaster and he preferred to not sit though an hour long explanation that amounted to "press the red button and pull this down".

Jay admitted he didn't even understand a third of what Lonnie said but the two of them had known each other since they were four; there were too many memories for that to get in the way.

But with all of that the three of them somehow meshed perfectly even if Jay wasn't around Rich and Lonnie could have fun. When Rich had died the two became unable to talk. Lonnie buried himself in his mechanical obsession and Jay… became Robin.

So when the red haired boy answered the door in jeans and a t-shirt he stared for a short moment before holding the door open for Jay and closing it behind him.

The Machin house was pretty normal other then the darker coloured décor; this was due to Lonnie and his father dragging in so much oil and grime that Mrs Machin had given in and decorated in a way that the stains would be less visible.

Jay also noticed the lack of 'projects' around the place. Lonnie had a habit of carrying his work around the house with him and leaving it randomly about. The fact that he couldn't see any though led the dark haired teenager to be even more wary of one appearing out of nowhere and tripping him.

Lonnie took him into the kitchen and after getting some drinks they sat at the table in silence.

"What are you doing here Jay?" the boy who had been staring down at his coke looked up at his friend, getting a good look at him for the first time and it shocked him what he saw.

The way that Lonnie looked… Jay wondered if that was how he looked like that. Lonnie had this… air of missing something and his eyes looked so much older and like he was hiding behind a mask.

_No wonder people are suspicious if I look like that._ He mused taking a sip while he thought about what to say next.

"Honestly Lon… I just needed to get out of the hou…"

"Why?" the red head interrupted.

"I was about to… you know what never mind. Dad's going insane over this Robin thing and I just couldn't be bothered being in the house with that" Lonnie nodded and smirked slightly taking away from the weird aura he had had earlier.

"Doesn't surprise me he's like the Golden boy of the press. Batman's a horrible monster though, worse thing that could happen to Gotham… But some kid comes along doing the exact same thing and he's God's gift to the city" Jay couldn't stop himself from flinching from the comments, but he hid it by grabbing his drink again.

"You're not a fan then?"

"…Haven't made up my mind yet" silence "You?" Jay looked down at his cup

"…I have to hate him or you know… Dad…" he knew the look Lonnie was giving him that scowl he always did, it was like a disappointed parent.

"Seriously?"

_No not seriously_

"You who dished out his own 'vigilante' justice the moment he saw a student getting bullied… hell even if it was a teacher doing it! You're telling me that you "have to hate him"?" Jay nodded "What did you lose that back bone since Rich…" They looked at each other and didn't speak. For a long time nether of them attempted to restart the conversation just listened to the clock and the street outside the window.

During this period they both heard the front door open and not to long afterwards Lonnie's mother appeared carrying to big bags of groceries. Putting them on the counter she noticed the two boys at the table.

"Jay? How are you?" she asked smiling, Jay returned it with a fake one of his own and stood up.

"Ummm… not hat badly but I need to be going… See you around Lon!" he called as he hastily left.

_Where the hell am I going to go now?_

He looked about himself confused about where to go. He checked his wallet to find twenty dollars so he decided to head to the nearest coffee shop and calm his nerves down.

When he got to the Starbucks it didn't at all surprise him that he saw a familiar blond. After all she just seemed to be everywhere at the moment.

"What are you doing stalking me?" she asked "You're not a vampire right?" she was ginning, the look on her face made Jay feel all the duller as he was sure that was an infectious grin. She seemed to pick up on that so she changed the subject.

"So did you see how the news papers are going wild about this whole 'Boy wounder thing"?" Jay payed the counter guy and looked at her. "Be an exciting life don't you think? Fighting crime" he shrugged

"Maybe?" he said seeing the look she was giving him

"I get it you're not in the mood to talk at all" he nodded before getting his coffee and leaving.

/

_Yeah maybe I was!_ She glared at him as he left the coffee shop. _Maybe I was going to tell my life story and then we'd walk off into the…_ She stopped herself because if she continued the laughing would have caused everyone to stare at her.

She needed that though after all she had a feeling he was doing the same thing she was… Avoiding something or _someone…_

_That said… Can't be out to long I've run out of excuses and daddy dearest is probably waiting._

/

"Master Bruce?" the butler put down the silver tray he was carrying on a metal bench, the man in front of him was sitting in an office chair looking at several screens. He was using them to look into the new vigilante of Gotham. "Perhaps if you went to bed for a few hours you would have a fresh look on the subject"

"I can't allow a boy to go running around the town getting himself killed Alfred" the look Alfred gave the back of his head was scathing. "He's different though from the other people trying to be Batman…"

"This could be because he's not trying to be Batman… Notice that he dresses differently and calls himself Robin" Bruce Wayne finally turned to look at the man who had cared for him for many years. "It seems to me that you two may have some things in common, this boy isn't a criminal Master Bruce he could just need a few words" the younger man nodded more to himself at least Alfred knew he had heard the words "you could think on it while attempting to sleep" he tried again. Bruce smirked at him before returning to his desk and putting files about a particular criminal up on the screen.

The old man sighed he at least tried.

**I wonder what's in store for Jay after all Batman wants to have a chat!**

**Oh and for now I'm not planning on extending the cast too far past this for now…**

**If you have any ideas or theories feel free to share I actually don't have much planned for right now in this story.**

**And remember folks don't flame without an extinguisher!**


End file.
